Couple FOs

I needed a new hat. I do have a gazillion hats, but all the ones I made last year are too small for my hair now (it's grown!), so I only had one that fit properly. But now I have two!

I spun the yarn from some dyed corridale top, and it was almost exactly the right amount, so yaay! I really like my little fish beads...the last one is a boat.

I also made a cowl with handdyed yarn:

I really like how it looks (the dye worked really well!) but it's too big to actually keep my face warm in the HORRIBLE FREEZING weather we've been having lately. But decorative cowls are nice too, so it's not a total loss.

Daily sketch

I got a planner-type molskein (in bright blue!) with a blank page for every day. My original plan was to do a reasonably decent drawing for every day, but the fact is that some days are just too busy for that, and then I'd feel pressured, and then I wouldn't want to do it, etc etc.

So my new plan is to fill with with gesture drawings. This is a great plan because they only take thirty seconds or more, so I can spend however long I want to on it without worrying, plus then I practice drawing, even if it's only a tiny bit, every day.

Pattern and yarn reviews

I have a new favourite pattern! Skoodlet (ravelry link), by Leethal, who makes various wonderful things. It's awesome, a hood/scarflet thing, it is absolutely delicious. I made a giant one (to accommodate my dreads and to make me look more mysterious) out of Nashua Handknits Granite, which is quite a lovely yarn. (ravelry link.)

The pattern is written to work with any yarn you want; you measure your gauge and put it into the formula. It's super easy to figure out, just simple multiplication and putting in numbers. I do recommend printing it out to write the numbers in - it's too confusing otherwise! Luckily, leethal has written the pattern so that only 2 pages actually need to be printed out. Suggestions for possible modifications are given in the pattern, so it was super easy to make it big enough for my overlarge hair. All the techniques she uses (including a figure-eight cast on I hadn't used before) are clearly explained at the start of the pattern. There were maybe a couple lines I had to read through a couple times, but for the most part everything was very clear. And of course, the skoodlet is absolutely ADORABLE, I wore it all day today and never wanted to take it off. EVER. It's sitting by my bed where I can reach it at a moment's notice.

5 stars for an awesome pattern!

The top and bottom buttons on it are ones I've drawn on - <3 drawing on buttons.

The yarn I used was Nashua Handknits Granite in "Deep Mix." I didn't have super high expectations of this yarn: the colours seemed nice, and I love slub yarn, but 70% wool, 30% acrylic doesn't tend to inspire blind confidence, simply because there's so much variation in the quality of both fibres. I was pleasantly surprised though, it's lovely and soft! All the thick sections are coloured, the thinner sections grey, so it has a really awesome texture when knitted. This is one of the few yarns I actually like better when it's knitted, I usually prefer the look of skeined yarn. It has a nice drape without being too heavy. While it doesn't reach the extremes of fabulousness some other yarns do, it's a very nice yarn indeed and I want more of it!

4.5 stars for great yarn!

A yarn I am less happy with is Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Spirit. I've used it before and it didn't seem so bad, but I guess I've acquired taste now. It's rather scratchy, and splits very easily. I bought it because I really like the colours as they appear on the ball, but they're muddy an disappointing when knitted up. I'd planned on using sections of reverse stockinette, but it ended up looking like such a mess that I had to use the other side. It might just be this colourway that's like this, I've used a different one before and it didn't have these problems...but I was crocheting....maybe I should just crochet with this yarn? But I'm halfway done a knitted hat! Anyway, I'm super disappointed with this.

2 stars for crappy yarn. Boo.

My other WIP is a purple lace dress, using Mari Lynn Patrick's Featherlight Lingerie Dress pattern from Lace Style.

The pattern is fine so far, even though it has some seaming, and picking up 450 stitches. I nearly went insane, and I'm only done the skirt part. I feel like this could have been designed to incorporate less seaming and picking up stitches, and if I'd thought about it I would probably have tried to do that myself. Too late now though. This project is on hold for a little, until I've gotten over picking up all those stitches.

3 stars for a decent pattern that could have been designed better.

The yarn I'm using is Maseru by Fleece Artist. I bought it for the gorgeous colour, bright vibrant purple! I got one skein of straight purple, and one matching varicolour skein, and I'm alternating every few rows (which is where that half-striped pattern is coming from). This yarn is soft but scratchy, which is not really surprising at 60% mohair, and it's very light and floaty - great for a dress! It's never going to be my favourite, I wouldn't be able to wear it against my skin, but the colours, floaty-ness, and price ($10 per 545 yard skein) make it a great choice for mohair projects.

4.5 stars for bright purple yarn!

Finished!

I finished my first art journal! Very exciting. I know I've posted some of these pictures here before, but I'm going to post them again so I can have everything in one post.

The view from above.


The cover, which I liked so didn't change. The ball is just wire that I twisted together until it was stable.


Skyweasels. This got glued in, and the facing page vaguely matches.


Sprouting. I am very fond of mushrooms. Sticker from a swap, and buttons I spray painted.


Maybe not. I thought the fairy looked a bit hesitant.


Take control. Based around a birth control card.


Fear. Prescription receipt and warning label, eye from a swap.


Secret robot. Image from a swap, the pink-y yarn I handspun then knitted.


Greenery. Lots of green things?


Constitutional. The drawing isn't mine, I got it in a swap. See if you can read the writing on the left page!


Meetings.


Pearled. The rectangles are edges from a swirly painting, I spray painted over them and added pearly beads.


Loofah. Torn paper, feathers, beads, crane, a bit of a painting from a swap. This page reminds me of boas, but I like the word loofah better than boa.


Lady parts. Cartoons from a swap, other images from a Nuva Ring pamphlet (Nuva rings are great btw).


Into the night. I think this one is my favourite. Woman image from a calendar, background was markered. The skirt is scrunched up handmade paper, with fabric over top. The fabric is from a wedding dress, I dyed it using ink pads. It was rather messy.


Reflect back. Shiny things! I like cyborg-y things. The blue star plastic thing moves when you tilt it back and forth.


Timing. I like both sides of this page, but I'm not sure how well they work together.


Fortunate. Fortune cookies are sooooo delicious. I got a bunch from the bulk store and it seemed a waste to not use the fortunes for something. I like that they're bilingual.


Careful consideration. Just marker. Melting rainbows are not something you can make a snap decision about.

That's the end! I'm pleased with myself, this journal was really fun to make, though for the next one I'm definitely going to use a book without lines. Didn't really think that one through. I'm not really sure what to do with it now - I definitely want to keep it around, but it's not going to fit on a bookshelf, and I have a limited amount of flat surfaces. Maybe I could hang it from somewhere....

Handspun and FOs

Some new handspun:

Purple dragon. I spun this a while ago, but never took a picture of the finished skein. This was my first time spinning from a batt, I really enjoyed it!


Foreign skies. This is the thinnest yarn I've ever spun! It's 2-ply and laceweight. This is the first time I've spun using long draw.



Mermaid's den. Respun from Lion Brand Homespun. Two skeins of singles and one 2-ply with occasional beads. There doesn't seem to be a good way to spin beads without putting them on a separate thread and plying that with a single - I tried threading the beads onto one of the singles, then pushing the beads along, which sort of worked, but the single kept breaking and it was very frustrating.

Some recent(ish) FOs:

Lace armwarmers. I made these quite a while ago, but never took pictures. This is another one I'm planning on writing out a pattern for, I really like how these turned out. If the pattern gets written out I'll probably add a thumb.


Silk and alpaca scarf. Worked sideways; the silk is sari ends I spun. I like this! I need to rinse it, but I'm worried about the dye on the silk running, it's happened before.


Child's hat. Cables!

Gosh

Several exciting things I have done recently:

I PASSED PHYSICS! I was so very worried I wouldn't, and the fact that marks took forever to be posted wasn't helping with my mindset. I did not do spectacularly, but considering the course I am pleased with my mark.

I WROTE A PATTERN! It's a pattern for my dreadlock hat, and you can find it HERE. (Ravelry link only for now, I may post this on my website at some point, if I ever get around to making it a proper website.) The pattern is only $1, I fully endorse it! Just look at how lovely the two I made are:

I finished all my x-mas presents on time! I will post pictures once I have them, I need to get my family to take pictures of themselves in my lovely creations. I am rather pleased with myself for finishing everything before I got home, even if I was just knitting for immediate family.

I remade a table to be a delicious monster named Soysauce! His birthday was January 1, 2011, he is a bundle of joy brought into my life by a glue gun. His teeth are made from an old wedding dress!

I found a bunch of semi-decent yarn at the thrift store! Including some delicious neon
laceweight (ie, string). I'm gonna make lovely lace arm warmers that will glow under blacklights!

I got paid (wooo!) by Rare Funk; I hadn't ever picked up a cheque from them, so it was quite a satisfying amount.

I had an unfortunate incident with a can of custard. Delicious but painful.

I dyed my hair...this one may sound less exciting, but dying dreadlocks is a difficult, dangerous, and deadly business.

I am so very much not ready for school to start. It is complicated and difficult even when I like the courses. It's only been two days of classes, and I've already slept for 2.5 hours on campus.